International House Madrid

International House is one of the best-established academies
in Madrid, in Spain and in the whole world. You will find that
with few exceptions, almost everyone will recognize them wherever
you go in Madrid and if you work for them, your experiences
there will be respected by just about everyone.

“IH Madrid” has seen some big growth lately and is now made up of 6 buildings. Each building provides all types of class, apart from Sagasta, the headquarters and In Company Training centre. International
House Madrid is certainly a growing institution and there aren’t
many better academies to start out at in English teaching, so
make sure to apply for that teaching job soon as they usually
have to hire around 50 teachers in October.

E-mail:selection@ihmadrid.com
Send your CV in an e-mail as an attachment. All CVs are looked at and kept in a database for future reference. Most of their hiring is done from May to September for the Fall, but sometimes they have to hire a few more teachers in October. (They took on 4 teachers in October who had done the academy’s own CELTA last summer.)

"Pasajes" English bookshop is on the corner at
Alonso Martinez (Zurbano 8 centre) and there are plenty
of restaurants and shops in the area, including “Burger
King”.

Facilities and classrooms:
Facilities and classrooms – there are well-equipped classrooms
in each centre. Six centres: International House Alonso
Martinez, International House Sagasta, International House
Ciudad Universitaria and International House Nuevos Ministerios and International House Diego de Leon.
The IH Madrid academy at Sagasta is the headquarters.

Have good materials support, photocopier?
The staffrooms are fully stocked with resources and equipped with computers with internet access for all staff.
IH Alonso Martinez has plenty of resources and a large area with tables and computers for the teachers. There are 5 computers with an ADSL internet connection in a cafeteria and 10 computers in the staffroom with internet connection. There are also lockers for the teachers in the staffroom. All classrooms have a computer with internet access and a projector. Maybe better for this section - all centres have staffrooms with computers, copiers, laminators, resource books and supplementary coursebooks and other resources. Alonso Martinez and Nuevos Ministerios both have a cafeteria.

Have "Director of Studies" support?
Each department has a Director, a DOS, one or more ADOSes, senior teachers and supervisors. IH Madrid has a ‘Colegios Director, a “Adult English” DOS, “Teacher Training” DOS and “Senior Teachers”, who help less experienced teachers. There is also a DOS for the in-company teachers as well as a team of supervisors. Teachers have regular meetings at the beginning and end of each term as part of an on-going effort to standardize the courses so that all the students in a particular level will reach their objectives as per exams and such. Teachers also undergo “well-received” observations, which are followed up by constructive feedback sessions.

VIPs on staff?
Roy Norris is author of “Ready for First Certificate” by MacMillan Publishers. Steven McGuire, head of teacher training at IH Madrid is a past coordinator at TESOL and frequent speaker at conventions and seminars in Spain. Kate Pickering has written books in the Global series. Several staff members are currently writing coursebooks for major publishers.

Qualification
requirements for employment?
Require a minimum of a CELTA and prefer teachers who
get an “A” or a “B” rather than those who simply “Pass”.
Will take “equivalent” TEFL certifications (Equivalent qualifications recognised by IH World Organisation, mainly the Trinity TESOL or Irish CELT - post 2007 only), but will
carefully examine the circumstances of the course (i.e.
whether the classes were observed, etc.). There is a
TEFL certification course, the Cambridge CELTA, offered by International House
Madrid.

Employment
Information:

Experience
requirements for employment?
IH Madrid would love for every English teacher to be
really experienced, but that’s simply not realistic.
There is no experience pre-requisite for employment.
Due to a high demand for teachers, they sometimes hire
English teachers right off the CELTA courses providing
they have demonstrated the quality expected. At the
moment, IH Madrid has a higher demand for young learners
teachers and prefers teachers who are willing to take
at least some YL classes.

Hire at a distance?
With the exception of their internal transfer process
they require face to face interviews, and do not hire
at distance. IH Madrid will ask for your CV and check
your references.

Hire Americans
and do their papers?
Hire Americans with legal status, but won’t do their
papers.

Preference
for British or Americans?
None apparently. IH Madrid gets plenty of companies
that ask for American English teachers.

Estimated teachers
hired yearly:
Estimated teachers hired – 50 / 60 a year, they tend to stay for an average of 2 -3 years. Apart from this, they tend to hire fewer strictly in-company teachers as they need teachers who can do every type of class.

Teachers at
International House for over 4 years?
Around 50% of their workforce have been there for more than 4 years.

Number of students:
More than 3,000.
About 2,800 young learners.

Best part about
working at International House Madrid?
… the people,
because most try to be professional. Also, there is
a general feeling of being part of a “family” because
people help and support each other.

Other benefits?
… the feeling that the training continues. Teachers
like to come to IH Madrid because it’s a place where
one can develop quickly. Teachers are encouraged to
do seminars and they stay because they feel they are
developing. Also, teachers only get more difficult classes
when they feel they are ready for them. IH Madrid makes
an effort to cater to requests and to give teachers
the courses and work loads that they ask for.

IH is made up of a network of schools internationally,
including 23 in Spain. As part of the internal recruitment
programme, teachers who move around within the system
will actually receive financial help with flights, etc.
in order to better make the moves.

Offer teacher
training or development along with job?
Teachers are offered an in-house IH Young Learner certification.
There is also an obligatory paid 36-hour-per-year in-service
training programme, which is written into the contract.
The class schedules are doubled up so as to give teachers
double the opportunities to choose their best seminar
times. In terms of training they also offer the IH Language
Awareness Course, the IH Business English Teaching Certificate,
and this year we will also be offering the newly written
IH Teaching 1 to 1 Certificate.

Job / Employment title: EFL teacher. Academy: International House Madrid. Website: http://www.ihmadrid.com, http://www.ihmadridtraining.com.Location: Central Madrid in one of our centres, and in companies and schools around Madrid, as well as Pozuelo and Las Rozas.
(Zurbano 8 centre)

Need the teacher by: interviews conducted throughout the year.Description of the academy: An affiliate of the International House World Organisation’s network of over 120 schools worldwide, IH Madrid offers the widest range of language teaching and training services in Madrid. The school is now in its 26th year and currently has 6 sites: Alonso Martínez and Sagasta in the city centre, Ciudad Universitaria (in the university district), Nuevos Ministerios (business district), Las Rozas, to the north west of Madrid and at Diego de Leon.The company comprises 3 areas of work:

This department teaches General & Professional English, French, German and Chinese to the general public both on our premises and provides Teacher Training services (CELTA, IHCYL and a range of short courses). It also offer foreign study courses through our Courses Abroad unit.

Colegios department

This department provides extra-curricular English to young learners in schools around the city and the region.

Conditions of employment: "fijo discontinuo" from October until the end of July.
including paid holidays, paid public holidays. Excellent conditions including Spanish classes, full library of resources, teacher support and development, and a fixed timetable.Salary: from €1,418, for 25 hour / week contracts, with supplements paid for experience as well as class type and location. Paid holidays and paid public holidays. Freelance rates from €20 – 22 / hour. Contact information:

I
studied my own CELTA (English Teaching Certificate) at International
House 18 years ago and I was quite satisfied with it. I did the
4-month extensive course and was always up to my neck in work so
I don’t know how anybody could hope to survive the 1-month intensive.
(The course-load has now been reduced somewhat to give more time
for lesson planning.) I have also studied one or two other courses
with their trainers over the years and apparently things haven’t
changed there regarding the quality.

Recognition of the Centre (and Certificate)
With over 120 schools internationally, International House is well-known
all over the world and in Madrid, which will make it easier, I think,
to get your Certificate accepted by your prospective employers anywhere
you go. (It probably won't hurt to have an IH certificate if you want
to work at IH in Madrid or elsewhere.)

Training Staff and Course
I thought the CELTA course that I did was great and the staff was
professional. I recently spoke at length with their Head of Teacher
Training, Steven McGuire, and I can give my own personal "certification"
as to his professionalism, intelligence and general knowledge of
English teaching. He is definitely a competent teacher who regularly
teaches at conferences.

Installations
Generally speaking, the recently renovated Zurbano Centre is just about
as good as it gets around Madrid. The classrooms are large, there are
lots of facilities for the students and teachers, it’s centrally located
with an English language bookshop and Subway station nearby and there’s
a Café with 5 internet-connected computers on the ground-floor next
to the reception area. Every classroom has an internet connected computer and projector.

I'm told that teachers on the course now have access to the extensive
teachers' resources library in the staff-room.

DELTA course (Diploma in English teaching)
International House Madrid has been running the New Modular DELTA course since it began in 2008. The advantages of the Modular Diploma is that candidates can take the three modules – written exam, practical assignments, and specialism – in any order and at any stage of their teaching career. It also allows teachers to spread the load over a longer period. The course is open to all teachers regardless of where they work and applications are now being accepted for the next part-time course running October 2011 to May 2012. Experienced
teachers may consider the option of working for International House
while doing the course which automatically qualifies them for a
20% discount on the course fee.

Prices
Cost of the CELTA is 1,580 Euros (Jan. 2011 price). Cost of the DELTA course is 2,590 euros (Jan. 2011 price). More information on dates and prices at the training web site: http://www.ihmadridtraining.com/.

The IH Madrid Young Learner Certificate course

This course is designed for qualified teachers who have completed a CELTA course or equivalent, but who have either limited experience of teaching young learners or need to develop their current skills to teaching different ages or levels of children in different situations. The course consists of 27 hours of practical-based seminars and workshops to equip teachers with all aspects of young learner teaching.

The IH Very Young Learner course is designed for teachers who have limited experience of teaching very young learners or need to develop their current skills to teaching infants and early primary children. The course consists of 12 hours of practical-based seminars and workshops to equip teachers with the essential aspects of very young learner teaching. Participants who complete the course will receive an attendance certificate with detailed contents of the course. Cost of the course is 200 Euros. More details here http://www.ihmadridtraining.com/yl/very_young_learner.html.